Goodnight
by DinoDina
Summary: It's late in the Hub, and Jack and Ianto are going home. Janto oneshot.


Jack watched Gwen on the CCTV until she walked out of view, then leaned back in his chair and sighed. _Home, sweet home_. She would open the door and be greeted with a kiss and lovingly-prepared dinner; she'd eat in front of the telly, then kiss her husband goodnight and fall asleep with him. She'd sleep through the whole night and walk in the next morning refreshed and ready for a new day.

He would admit to being unfair: where Gwen was gone, Ianto was still at the Hub—Jack couldn't see him from his office, and made a mental note to switch his desk around later to get a clearer view.

But Gwen had a home to return to, and a bed to sleep in. What he wouldn't give for an uninterrupted night! It was bad enough that Owen and Tosh were gone, but the Rift was running rampant and the Weevils still didn't feel fully comfortable in their sewers after the explosions that had shaken the city.

They'd been working well together, though exhausted and unused to a three-person team, but it was well after midnight and Jack knew that Gwen wasn't the only one who had to go home.

He stood and stretched, then turned off his computer and walked over to Ianto's desk. It was too late for dinner, now; far better for Ianto to get a full night's sleep and be greeted with a large breakfast than to jeopardize sleep in favor of food.

But when he got to Ianto's desk, Jack wasn't met with a resistant frown and tired mumbling about getting work done. Ianto was asleep.

It didn't look like a simple nap, either. Ianto was down for the count and had been for a while: not only was his breathing was deep and even, but the string of numbers and letters on his computer was incredibly long from where Ianto's head rested against the keyboard. It seemed like a perfectly normal pillow, but Jack knew exactly how uncomfortable it was.

"Hey," Jack whispered, shaking Ianto's shoulder. "Ianto, wake up."

"Hmm?" Ianto sat up and blearily looked around, though Jack doubted he was fully awake. Jack grinned; Ianto's hair was mussed up on the side and the keyboard had left an impression on his cheek. "What's going on?"

"Gwen just went home. You were asleep." Jack knelt next to Ianto's chair and put a hand on his knee. "I think it's time for you to go home, too."

"Yeah." Ianto blinked a few times. "I'm hungry."

"You're tired, is what you are. Let me take you home."

"What about the Rift?"

"What about it?" Jack grinned.

Ianto yawned and leaned forward, and Jack caught him in a hug. They fit together perfectly, as sappy as it was to think, but Jack didn't really care about that—hugging Ianto felt comfortable, safe.

"I'll take you home," he said, and Ianto didn't protest anymore. He smiled at the triumph and offered: "And I'll stay, too, if you'll have me."

"'Course I'll have you."

Jack pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Let's go, then."

But then the Rift Alarm went off, and Jack mentally cursed everything under the sun. Trying to keep Ianto sitting—which wasn't as hard as it should have been—Jack wondered if he was awake enough to check it out alone.

Quickly, he rummaged in Ianto's desk and let out a quiet 'Aha!' when he found a chocolate bar. It was probably for Myfanwy, but he opened it and thrust it into Ianto's hand before running over to Tosh's old workstation.

"It's a few streets away," he said, getting back to Ianto and standing him up, then gesturing to the chocolate bar. "You should eat that."

"But—"

Jack gently pushed him down onto the sofa and nudged the chocolate bar. "You should eat that."

Ianto lifted an eyebrow at him.

Jack chuckled, but stood his ground and watched Ianto begin nibbling at the chocolate. It was almost enough to make him completely ignore the Rift Alert, but he stood his ground and leaned down to quickly kiss Ianto's forehead. "I love you, I'll be right back."

It was only when he had run out the Hub did Jack realize what he'd said. He _did_ love Ianto, and he thought about it multiple times; he must have been really tired for the words to slip out. But Jack didn't regret it and he had the Rift to deal with—and then he'd overanalyze it and wait for Ianto to do the same, and they'd move on with their lives.

.oOo.

Ianto was asleep when Jack returned, slumped over onto his side and still holding the chocolate bar. He hadn't held out long; Jack had only been gone for half an hour.

His heart swelled just looking at Ianto—he really had meant the 'I love you', no matter how terrifying it was—and Jack made sure to walk quietly around the Hub, afraid to wake Ianto up before he finished powering down the computers and redirecting the Rift Alarm to his wriststrap.

He was done quickly, and although the last thing he wanted to do was wake Ianto up, he knew from experience that the Torchwood sofa didn't make a comfortable bed.

He shook Ianto's shoulder and waited for Ianto to look at him. "I seem to remember inviting myself home with you."

Ianto chuckled as he rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, that was the plan. What time is it?"

"Late."

Ianto scoffed and checked his watch, then yawned. "It _is_ late."

"Let's go." Jack levered him up off the sofa when it seemed that Ianto as going to go right back to sleep. Not that Jack blamed him. "You can sleep in the car."

"You're not driving my car."

"Neither are you." Jack laughed and led them off the invisible lift to the SUV. Like hell he was going to drive Ianto's car when Ianto wasn't awake enough to remember it—though he'd driven it before, but the SUV was far more his domain, being, as Ianto liked to complain, 'big, flashy, and unnecessarily labeled'.

Ianto hummed in agreement as he got into the car. He buckled himself in—Jack waited until he was done and was about to close the door, when Ianto put a hand on his arm and smiled sleepily.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

Ianto leaned up and sloppily kissed his cheek. "I love you, too."

Jack bit back a grin as he closed the door—and fully admitted to the skip in his step as he ran around to the driver's side of the SUV—then gave up on it, and kept beaming as he drove them home.


End file.
